Storage cabinets are conventionally utilized in offices wherein a boxlike cabinet housing is provided with a front opening, and a door is positionable over the opening for closing of the cabinet. The door is conventionally mounted on the cabinet by a support which permits the door to be swung upwardly about its upper edge into an open position, and then moved generally linearly into a storage position wherein the door is disposed substantially directly over the top wall of the cabinet. Such cabinets are often referred to as employing a "flipper" door. In one conventional and frequently utilized construction, the door is coupled to the cabinet by a pair of hinge-type telescopic ball slide mechanisms which mount between the top wall and the door adjacent opposite edges thereof. Such cabinet is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3 771 847. While cabinets of this type operationally perform in a desirable manner, nevertheless the hinge-type telescopic ball slide mechanisms are expensive, and hence make such cabinets more expensive than desired.
Other known cabinets have attempted to utilize a rack-and-pinion mechanism for coupling the door to the cabinet to permit both the desired hinging and translating movement. In these known arrangements, however, the rack is normally fixed to the cabinet, specifically to or adjacent the top wall, so as to extend transversely in the front-to-back direction. The pinions are generally carried on brackets which are mounted on the inner upper corners of the door. The pinions permit the door to pivot into an open position about the pinion axis, and then the pinions can roll along the rack toward the rearward end thereof so as to permit storage of the door. In many of the known cabinets, this arrangement has been designed such that the rack is stored inside the cabinet directly beneath the top wall. In other arrangements, the door has been stored directly over the top wall, but such arrangements have normally required the provision of elongate slots or clearance spaces extending transversely of the top wall so as to permit the pinions to project therethrough for engagement with the racks. This arrangement, one example of which is illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,570, is undesirable in view of the necessity of having to provide such slots in the cabinet top wall.
Another problem encountered with prior cabinet designs, particularly those in which the door is intended to be swung upwardly and then moved rearwardly for storage over the top wall, is the difficulty in providing a cabinet wherein the upper edge of the door is generally flush with the upper surface of the top wall when the door is closed, while at the same time permitting movement of the door into a storage position above the top wall. In this arrangement, difficulties have been encountered in providing a hinging and translating mechanism for coupling the door to the cabinet which does not undesirably project upwardly above the upper edge of the door when the latter is in its closed position.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cabinet of the above type, namely a cabinet having a door which hinges upwardly and then translates rearwardly for storage above the top wall, which cabinet incorporates therein an improved mechanism for permitting both hinging and linearly translating of the door between a closed position and an open storage position wherein the door is disposed above the cabinet top wall.
More specifically, this improved mechanism is believed to provide for efficient and dependable operation of the door without encountering racking of the door during the opening and closing operations, is mechanically reliable and dependable in operation, and can be economically manufactured and installed.
Further, the improved mechanism as incorporated into the cabinet of this invention permits operation in the above manner while permitting the upper edge of the door to be disposed substantially flush with the cabinet top wall when the door is closed, without the mechanism protruding upwardly above the door in an undesirable and unsightly manner.
Other objects and purposes of the invention will be apparent to persons familiar with structures of this general type upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.